CNNMoney/PayScale's top 100 careers with big growth, great pay and satisfying work.
What they do all day? Video game designers are responsible for creating all dimensions of a game world. Not only do they conceptualize stories, they also must engineer a system that accounts for every possible interaction a player may make with the game environment. Intense perfectionists, they spend hours testing prototypes and debugging code to get rid of flaws in the system.
How to get the job? Programming skills and a flair for system design are critical, as is an understanding of the drama and psychology that make a compelling story.
What's great? What's not? Game designers get to flex their creative muscles and create entertainment for people, so it's fun. But with competition in the game space so fierce, there's no room for mistakes. --G.W.
What they do all day? Video game designers are responsible for creating all dimensions of a game world. Not only do they conceptualize stories, they also must engineer a system that accounts for every possible interaction a player may make with the game environment. Intense perfectionists, they spend hours testing prototypes and debugging code to get rid of flaws in the system. --G.W.
*Total jobs is estimated number of people working in broader BLS 'job family.'
Sources: PayScale.com, Bureau of Labor Statistics, and CNNMoney research